Despite tallying a mind-boggling 174 penalty yards, turning the ball over three times and surrendering a safety, Kinston (2-0) managed to soundly defeat Nash Central, 26-9, in the Vikings’ home opener.

“We didn’t play Kinston football in the first half,” first-year Kinston coach Ryan Gieselman said, “but we got out there and pitched a shutout in the second half.”

The Vikings’ defense was stout all night. The unit entered the fourth quarter giving up less than 100 yards to the Bulldogs offense, while holding Nash Central to 170 yards for the game.

The Vikings forced a three-and-out on the Bulldogs’ first series then marched 54 yards in just four plays. They took a 7-0 lead when quarterback Raquise Bellamy found senior Tiquan Canady streaking down the sideline for a 36-yard score.

Following a Nash Central turnover on downs and a Bellamy interception to give the ball back to Nash Central with a short field, the Bulldogs put together a 25-yard drive capped by a 7-yard run by Charles Harvey to knot the score at 7-7 with 1:01 left in the first.

The Vikings took over at their own 7 on the ensuing kickoff, and Bellamy fumbled in his own end zone for a safety on Kinston’s first snap of the series to give Nash Central a 9-7 lead with 44 seconds remaining in the first. It would be the last time Nash Central would score.

Kinston, meanwhile, scored three unanswered touchdowns on long pass plays. The Vikings took the lead for good with 7:27 to play in the half when Bellamy found Canady on a 65-yard strike. The junior quarterback dumped the ball off to Canady near the line of scrimmage, just beating a blitz, and the senior co-captain handled the rest.

The scoring culminated with a pair of touchdown passes to sophomore wide receiver Anthony Berry, who scored on plays of 44 and 71 yards in the third quarter – the latter of gave Kinston a 26-9 lead.

“Everybody knows Canady is our go-to guy,” Gieselman said. “He had two guys on him early, and Ant Berry stepped up and made some big plays for us. He really rose to the occasion tonight.”

Berry finished with two catches for 115 yards. Canady wasn’t too shabby himself, hauling in four catches for 122 yards, including the Vikings’ first two touchdowns. A week after tallying more than 200 yards on the ground in a 41-13 win at Jones Senior, the Vikings relied heavily on the passing game to beat Nash Central.

Bellamy finished the game 11-of-20 and his 272 passing yards accounted for all but 31 yards of the Vikings’ offense. Senior running back Raheem Freeland was the only Kinston player with double digits on the ground, finishing with 24 yards on eight carries. His total would have been considerably more impressive had an 80-yard scamper to the end zone on an option pitch not been called back in the first half on an illegal block. It was one of 15 flags thrown Kinston’s way Friday night.

Page 2 of 2 - “The penalties are very frustrating,” Gieselman said. “We have got to be a lot more mentally tough.”

The aerial assault on offense wasn’t necessarily part of the Vikings’ game plan, Gieselman said.

“That’s just how it played out,” he said. “It just flipped sides after last week.”